Evaluation of Sida’s South Sudan Portfolio

This report assesses Sida’s Zambia portfolio across all sectors and strategies in 2019.

Main evaluation method: analysis of data for all 77 contributions and an in-depth document review for the 23 contributions above SEK 20 million.

Positives: The portfolio had a balanced geographic and sectoral distribution, with several contributions in Zambia’s poorest provinces. It explicitly targets women, children and some marginalised groups of particular relevance in the Zambian context.

The Embassy has taken concrete steps to address identified gaps in the portfolio’s targeting of the poor e.g. within agriculture and livelihood interventions.

Direct and indirect targeting of poverty was well-balanced. Some contributions explicitly addressed multidimensional poverty, e.g. through cash transfer. These improved food security of the poor, but have not had an impact on assets accumulation or income generation due to increasing food prices.

Potential shortcomings: While potential for synergies across strategic areas exists, these are challenging to realise. Indirect poverty-reducing interventions (e.g. developing agricultural markets and renewable energy in remote areas) require longer-term support to effectively benefit the poor.

The lack of systematic monitoring data on which specific groups are being reached within a broader defined “marginalised” group limits the evidence base.

The UNDP South Sudan, Peace and Community Cohesion project (PaCC), Phase 1 (2017 to 2020), aimed to improve security by strengthening relations between divided communities through joint projects. It also helped to set up institutional peace institutions at both local and national level.

Main method: Review of documentation and monitoring data, complemented with interviews.

Positives: Beneficiaries reported improvements in a range of areas, including perceived security. However, the data does not permit us to clearly attribute these improvements to the project. Sida’s non-earmarked funding enabled adaptive management and flexibility, allowing funds to be spent across activities as needed, which was perceived as important for achieving positive results.

Potential shortcomings: The security situation in the project areas remain volatile, and gains  are fragile due to recurring crises. The project did not successfully address the weak or absent institutions. Local achievements were not scaled up to the national level, highlighting the difficulties of achieving sustainable impact in a fragile, and conflict-affected context with limited political will. Sida’s reporting is based exclusively on the project data available, which result in limitations of rigidity. These limitations have not been reflected in Sida’s reporting.